MACBETH
William Shakespeare
◦ Duncan: King of Scotland
◦ Duncan’s sons: Malcolm, Donalbain
◦ Macbeth: the main character/protagonist
◦ - a general à Thane of Cawdor à King of Scotland
◦ Lady Macbeth: Macbeth’s wife
◦ Banquo: Macbeth’s friend, Thane of Lochbar, killed by
Macbeth
◦ Banquo’s son: Fleance
◦ Macduff: the antagonist/Macbeth’s enemy, Thane of Fife
Correct order: 8→3 →6 →4 →7 → 9 →2 →10 →5 →1
◦ [Link]
ACT 1, SCENE 1
◦ Dark and ominous atmosphere: Foreshadow the chaos and
disorder that will unfold throughout the play.
◦ Thunder/lighting: Supernatural influence
◦ “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”: Things are not what they seem to
be
[Link]
SUMMARY OF ACT V SCENE 1
1. Where does this scene occur? 4. What does Lady Macbeth keep doing
A. In Lady Macbeth’s bedroom in England in this scene?
B. At Macbeth’s castle in Dunsinane A. Rubbing her hands
B. Cleaning her face
C. At King Duncan’s castle in Dunsinane C. Crying
2. What physical problem is Lady
Macbeth suffering?
A. Insaneness
B. sleepwalking
C. stroke
3. What crime did she commit before?
A. Murdered King Duncan
B. Murdered Banquo
C. Murdered King Duncan and Banquo
1. What did the gentlewoman see Lady Macbeth doing in her
sleepwalking? What is the meaning of the paper she takes out of her
closet? What is her health problem?
2. Gentlewoman: She has light by her continually, ‘tis her command
Why does Lady Macbeth command to light up always?
3. Lady Macbeth: Yet here’s a spot
What spot does she see on her hands? What is the symbol of this spot to
her?
4. Lady Macbeth: Hell is murky
Why is she sinking in the dark hell?
ACT V - SCENE I: ANALYSIS
The conversation between the doctor and the gentlewoman
1. What did the gentlewoman see Lady Macbeth doing in her
sleepwalking? What is the meaning of the paper she take out of her
closet? What is her health problem?
→Lady Macbeth is doing some weird acts in her sleepwalking. The
paper recalls the letter she wrote for Macbeth. Her sleepwalking
and uncontrolled acts shows that she is suffering from a
psychological disorder.
Enter Lady Macbeth
♠.Gentlewoman: She has light by her continually, ‘tis her command
2. Why does Lady Macbeth command to light up always?
→ She is scared of darkness because the murder of King Duncan in
which she got involved occurred in darkness. Darkness makes her
relive the previous guilts.
♠. Lady Macbeth: Yet here’s a spot
3. What spot does she see on her hands? What is
the symbol of this spot to her?
→ Blood: symbol for her guilt.
♠. Lady Macbeth: Hell is murky
4. Why is she sinking in the dark hell?
→ She is so guilt-ridden that she is undergoing
the obsession of being pushed to the hell.
6. Who are recalled in her broken speech?
♠.“Yet who would have thought the old man to have
had so much blood in him?”
→ King Duncan
♠. “The Thane of Fife had a wife; where is she now?”
→ Lady Macduff
♠. “Banquo’s buried; he cannot come out on’s grave”
→ Banquo
♠.“There’s knocking at the gate, give me your hand”:
→ Macduff
“What’s done cannot be undone”
7. What is her implication when saying so?
→ This line reverses her earlier argument to her husband
"what's done is done" (Act III, Scene 2)
She wants to tell Macbeth that what happened in the past
cannot be changed, and there is no turning back when they
committed murder, so he should get over it.
♠. Doctor:“ Foul whisperings are abroad: unnatural deeds
Do breed unnatural troubles”
8. What does the doctor’s word imply?
→ Peculiar deeds usually expose evil and that leads to
unnatural troubles in one’s life (ex: psychological disorder).
♠. Doctor: “: infected minds
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets:
More needs she the divine than the physician.”
9. What usually happens to the sinners?
What is the best treatment for lady Macbeth according to the
doctor?
→ The sinners will utter their sinful secrets in their sleep. Evil
acts can never be hidden but will be sooner or later brought under
the daylight.
Thus, Lady Macbeth needs a priest for her salvation rather than a
doctor.
THEMES:
Ambition and Evil
When one’s ambition goes so far, it can manufacture evil deeds and ruins
themselves.
Guilt and Conscience’s court
People who have committed crime will be judged by their conscience’s court.
The law of Karma
SOURCES
[Link]
[Link]
scene-1
Act 5, Scene 5: Interpretation (from [Link])
“She should have died in the future.
There was a time when the “future” meant something.
But now, day after day drags along to the end of time, serving no purpose
but to show the way for us fools to our dusty death.
Snuff out our brief lives, which last no longer than candles!
We are nothing more than moving shadows, bad actors who strut and rage
for an hour on the stage and then are never heard from again.
Life is nothing but a tale told by an idiot that’s full of sounds and passion
but means nothing.”
◦ [Link]
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,”
1. What effect is the repetition of the word “tomorrow”?
-The repetition emphasizes the slow and tedious passage of time that Macbeth
would suffer for the rest of his life.
2. Why does Macbeth think that the coming days go so slowly?
-Without his wife, he has no one to share his joy and sadness, his crime and
fear.
-He no more has any purpose in life.
“And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!”
1. What literary device is used for “yesterdays”?
“Yesterday”: synecdoche for the past
2. What does Macbeth think about the past?
-The past has guided him and his wife to death.
-Thus, he finds it useless to live on, and has no way to escape but
accepting death.
-The past did not make any sense in his life.
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage”
What literary device is used for “a walking shadow” and “a poor
player”? What does it mean?
- Metaphor
- “a walking shadow” : Life is an illusion, like a shadow; it does not have
substance or emotion.
- “a poor player”: “Life is merely a stage, on which all men and women
are players who perform their roles of life.” But this stage is “poor”,
which means that all the characters have to suffer the sorrow and
meaningless of life.
“And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
How is life reflected in these words of Macbeth?
Life is a story which may be full of dramas and events but
after all seems to be meaningless. --> human life’s futility
Theme
◦ The futility of human life
